Four-way valve for cotton gins



Patented Get. 29, 1929 uurran stares HENRY w. MCNEILL, or SINTON, TEXAS FOUR-WAY VALVE FOR COTTONGINS Application filed September 22, 1927. Serial No. 221,380.

In the ginning of cotton there is usually provided a cotton house for storing seed cotton where the cotton is being delivered faster than it can be ginned. Such a storehouse is also used for the reception of wet cotton. Most gins also have in connection therewith extra cleaning machinery for the cleaning of very dirty or trashy cotton. It is not necessary or desirable to pass the clean cotton through the extra cleaners or hullers and it has been customary, heretofore, to use several two-way valves in the air lines to selectively place those leading to the extra cleaners and gin stands in communication with the cotton house or with the wagon shed. The object of the present invention is to provide a single valve with which the delivery tube or conductor of the wagon house is in communication and also with which the delivery tube of the cotton house is in communication, the air lines to the gin stands and to the extra cleaners being also in communication with this valve, whereby the cotton may be taken from the cotton house and transferred to the extra cleaners or direct to the gin stands, or 1 from the wagon shed to the extra cleaners or to the gin stands; and to provide a valve of this character which is of simple character and therefore susceptible of cheap manufacture and low installation cost.

Vith this object in view, the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the invention.

Figure 2 is a central vertical sectional view of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Although the valve may be disposed either vertically or horizontally in installation, it is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as being mounted vertically. It is made preferably of sheet iron and comprises a central chamber 10 preferably in the form of a hexahedron, the top, bottom and two side walls of which are open to effect communication between the chamber and the thimbles 11, 12,

13 and 14 which are of tapering form axially and merge from the square formation at the larger base or point of connection with the chamber to a circular formation at the smaller edge. With the thimble 11 there is connected l a conduit 15 preferably in the form of a sheet iron pipe which'leads to'the cotton house. lVith the thimble 14 there is connected a flexible joint 16 carrying the feed pipev17, Y the latter'being inthe Wagon shed for placement in wagons for the transfer of the cotton contained therein to the valve-from which it is transferred by the suction apparatus to the extra cleaners or to' the ginstands as desired. A conduit18 connects with the thimble 13 and leads to the gin stands while'a conduit- 19 connects withthe thimble-l2 and leads to the extra cleaners and boll'breaking machines.

Pintles 20 and 21 are rotatably mountedin 170 V the chamberlO at diagonally opposite corners, the former between the thimbles 11 and 14 and the latter between the thimbles 12 and 13. The pintle 20 has connected with it a gate valve 22 While the pintle 21 carries agate valve 23, the former being swingable to either of two extreme positions where it closes the side wall of the chamber 10 with Which the thimble 11 is connected or that side wall with which the thimble 14 is connected. The valve 23 is movable in the same way to close the side walls from which the thimbles 12 and 13 extend. The pintles 20 and 21 extend beyond the front wall of the chamber 10 and the extending portion is squared as indicated at 24 5 for the detachable reception of actuating handles 25, the latter having eyes 26 at their free extremities for the reception of a tool by means of which they may be actuated. The conduits 18 and 19 are subject to suction due '90 to the feeding apparatus and should it be desired to take the cotton direct from the Wagon shed and transfer it to the gin stands, the valve 23 is swung into a position of closure for the outlet thimble 12 and the valve 22 into closing position for the thimble 11. The cotton is thus transferred from the wagon through the thimble 14; to the chamber 10 and thence through the thimble 13 and conduit 18 to the gin stands; or if conditions require, it

may be transferred to the extra cleaners by swinging the valve 23 into position of closure for the thimble 13, when the cotton entering the chamber 10 will pass through the outlet 12 and the conduit 19 to the extra cleaners. Similarly, by the proper actuation of the valve 22',- it may be transferred selectively from the cotton house or the extra cleaners to the gin stands. v

The invention having been described, what is claimed as new and useful is:

1. A valve for the purpose indicated comprising a central chamber in the form of a hexahedron having closed opposite sides and thimbles mounted on the four remaining sides and in communication with said chamber, gate valves having pintles pivotally mounted in diagonally opposite corners of said chamber, and means for actuating said gate valves to selectivelydisposethem in elosingposi tion for adjacent thimbles.

2. A valve for the purpose indicated comprising a central chamber in the form of a hexahed ron having closed opposite sides and thimbles mounted on the four'remaining sides and in communication with said chamber, gate valves having pintles pivotally 'mounted in diagonally opposite corners of saidchamber, the pintles projecting through one of the closed sides and being cross-sectionally angular on said projecting portion, and detachable actuating handles engageable with said projecting portion.

In testimony whereof he affixes his signature.

V HENRY W. MC'NEILL.

BIS 

